The Finest Moment of SpouseBUZZ LIVE Utah

We had such a great time this past weekend with the spouses from Hill AFB and the surrounding Utah area. Thanks to all of you who attended, we enjoyed meeting you, hearing your stories and spending some time with you. I'm sure several of us will post our thoughts in the coming days, so stay tuned, but for now, I wanted to share what, for me, was the finest moment of the entire day.

During one of the breaks, airforcewife tipped me off to the fact that we had a very special guest at the event. It was a WWII-era spouse. During closing remarks, I said that I hoped this wouldn't embarrass our guest, but I felt I had to recognize the spouse. I pointed her out and mentioned how honored we were to have her attend.  

Within two seconds, the over 300 spouses in attendance, without prompting, were on their feet giving this wonderful woman a lengthy standing ovation. It's really hard to capture the emotion of the moment in mere words. Actually, it's impossible to do, I'll just say that it was heartwarming to see this generation of milspouses honor her in the same way that our spouses would honor a WWII vet if the situation were reversed.

Later, we found that we had not one, but two, WWII-era spouses in our midst! I can only imagine the stories these two ladies could share. I was so proud of the spouses for their spontaneous show of affection and appreciation for this woman. What a fine moment it was.....  

Comments

[Sara]

Aww that's wonderful. It would have been interesting to hear them talk about their experiences

[Sarah P.]

It was an honor to be in the presence of these milspouse "legends." Their stories are inspiring and I use them often to boost my own lagging positivity when I need it. I recently wrote a paper on the women of the American Revolution...even their stories have kept me going during this recent separation from my guy.

[airforcewife]

I agree with Andi and both Sara(h)s!

I often feel more understood my by 93 year old WWII era wife grandmother than my civilian contemporaries in age. Sometimes I feel like they totally "get" me more.

I had the good fortune to talk to that spouse during a break, and she was a HOOT! And the strongest lady you'd ever meet. I feel very blessed to have made her acquaintance.

[Marine Wife]

I recently blogged about meeting a retired Army couple last weekend. While they weren't from the WWII era, they were from a different generation than Stretch and I. Yet we felt we had the most in common with them of anyone else we met that night and kept coming back to talk to them.

[Erin]

That's awesome! I can't imagine how these women did it and I try to remember how blessed we are by technology!

[awtm]

She was inspiring really...AFW, kept telling me to talk to her, and I did. I swelled so much when we stood and applauded her, I was crying.....

She is an amazing woman

[Apryl]

My G-ma was also a WWII wife/mother and unfortunatly passed away in February before I could be mature enough to ask her about those times. I'm not sure why after 34 years I'd decided the next time I saw her I'd ask but unfortunatly I'll have to rely on my Mother's hazy recollection of thoughts from that time.

Hindsight...sigh.

[Penny]

I can only imagine how amazing and inspiring it was to have heard them speak! :)